The Middle Ages Between the Eastern Alps and the Northern Adriatic: Select Papers on Slovene Historiography and Medieval History

Abstract

The phrase “(Slovene) medieval history” in the book’s subtitle should be understood in its geographical, not ethnic sense: it does not mean that the papers deal with the history of the Slovenes, but rather with historical developments and phenomena from the Middle Ages in the area that is today associated with (the Republic of ) Slovenia. At the same time, we must be aware that even such a geographical definition can only be approximate and provisional: the contemporary frame-work of the state certainly should not limit our view or research when dealing with remote periods, when many political, linguistic, ethnical, and other borders differed essentially and the area had a different struc-ture. Th e developments in the coastal towns of present-day Slovenia, for instance, cannot be adequately understood and described without knowledge and consideration of the conditions in the whole of Istria, the historical province that is today divided between Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, or without giving due consideration to the roles played by the Byzantine, Frankish, or Venetian authorities in the peninsula.